Well, rumored for several weeks, it's now official (newyork.mets.mlb.com). I feel bad for Howe; obviously he's still the same man who led the A's to the playoffs three straight seasons. While Howe made his fair share of mistakes over the past two seasons, it's safe to say that he didn't forget everything he knew about managing a winning team when he moved from the West Coast to the East. Still, that's the way of baseball; the front office gets to fire the manager for not winning, while the manager can't fire the front office for giving him lousy players.

The most important thing now is that the New York Media does NOT get its wish and that Lou Pinella is NOT given the job as Mets manager. Hiring Lou Pinella as Mets manager for 2005 would IMHO be a replay of the Dallas Green regime of the 1990's. The Mets manager in 2005 IMHO should be John Sterns (norfolktides.com), a man who has spent a huge chunk of the past thirty years in the Mets organization, and who was manager of the Mets AAA farm team Norfolk Tides in 2004. Here's hoping Jim Duquette and the Wilpons make the right choice.

BTW, speaking of former Tides players becoming major league managers, according to this site (norfolktides.com) eight former Tides players and/or managers were managers of MLB teams during the 2004 season. Not a bad little piece of trivia.

The way they handled the thing with Howe was really low class. "Quit now or be fired later." What a cheap ploy to try to get Howe to quit, which would allow the Mets to not have to pay him for the last two years of his contract.

You know, if John Kerry weren't so darn electable, the Democrats would be panicking right now. Oh wait, he isn't and they are.- James Taranto

Originally posted by GrimisThe way they handled the thing with Howe was really low class. "Quit now or be fired later." What a cheap ploy to try to get Howe to quit, which would allow the Mets to not have to pay him for the last two years of his contract.

Originally posted by BigSteveWell hell, they got Victor Zambrano and Kris Benson and they still didn't win the wild card. The General Manager should be gone first because of how he screwed up so bad at the deadline.

The Mets were already dead in the water at the trading deadline. Giving up Scott Kazmir, who just this week kicked the ass of my beloved Red Sox, was incredibly foolish.

Well if they no longer permitted it then I guess i'll be arrested soon. Seriously I might be a hopeless optimistic but with Wright, Matsui and Reyes in the infield they have a great young nucleus. If they can have a break out season next season then there's no reason they can't be a contender as soon as next year with their pitching staff. And Cameron, Hidalgo, and Floyd might not be MVP caliber players, but they are the best outfielders the Mets have had in years.

Originally posted by QuezzyWell if they no longer permitted it then I guess i'll be arrested soon. Seriously I might be a hopeless optimistic but with Wright, Matsui and Reyes in the infield they have a great young nucleus. If they can have a break out season next season then there's no reason they can't be a contender as soon as next year with their pitching staff. And Cameron, Hidalgo, and Floyd might not be MVP caliber players, but they are the best outfielders the Mets have had in years.

Wright has the potential to be a very good player. Reyes can't stay healthy. Matsui can't field. Floyd suffers at least 2 lengthy injuries a season and wants to go to the AL to DH. Hidalgo will be a free agent after the Mets pay him a $2 million buy out rather than pick up his $15 million dollar option (unless they are stupid enough to pick up the option). Piazza is a DH at this point in his career, and looks foolish catching when a team like the Marlins run on him all day. The top 3 pitchers are old, and they have too many old players going over the managers head to ownership to make decisions. And, the Mets are the team that wouldn't sign Vlad Guerrero for health reasons, but traded their top pitching prospect for Zambrano when Zambrano already was having elbow problems. As long as Wilpon's son is making the decisions, the Mets will be fighting for the cellar, unless the Expos move to a place where they can spend money, in which case the Mets will have the cellar all to themselves.